Three Stages of Falling
by Bar-Ohki
Summary: Falling has three stages, where it be love or death. One shot.


**Three Stages of Falling**

**By: Bar-Ohki**

Disclaimer; I do not own FMA.

Rating: T for mature themes.

Summary: Falling has three stages, where it be love or death. One shot.

The Edge of the Cliff

Lieutenant Colonel Mustang wasn't stupid, his state alchemy license told anyone that much. He was a man that made bad choices and mistakes, his scars from Ishbal told that story. His short live had been eventful, his eyes reflected this. He had decided that he was going to change the world, make it a better place, his friend Hughes could explain that one in good detail.

This man of raven hair and onyx eyes was usually calm and collected. After the horrors of war he decided there was no challenge he could not face. His feet strangely pulled and tugged at his mind, leading him about the muddy roads of Risembol almost against his will. He scoffed at the thought his feet were carrying him to the place he was needed most in this tenacious rain.

Upon cresting a hill he saw one home light up in the distinct purples and blues that marked sinful alchemy. He frowned.

_What is that?_ He asked himself. He then heard the shriek. The shriek shook not only his bones, it dove much deeper, shaking his very soul.

His feet were moving again, carefully picking his way down the slope of the hill. Not towards the house with the strange alchemy, but to the house down the lane. He was no longer in control of where he was going, his mind had fallen into a mysterious trance.

His mind awoke when he found himself knocking on the door of the yellow home. An elderly woman opened the door, her face weary. She looked at him, her gaze sharply analyzing his appearance.

"So tell me," she began, her voice full of experience and wisdom, "what brings a military man to my doorstep at this ghastly hour?"

"I saw the transmutation." Roy told her simply. She shook her head and allowed him into her home. Again his feet tugged him forward, towards the back room with the door cracked open.

Entering the room he was greeted by the most amazing sight he had ever seen. A young boy lay on the bed, his golden hair fell about his head like a halo. His eyes were shut in peace. Roy then noticed the bandages around the boy's right shoulder, and the lack of a lump under the sheets were his left leg should have been. The man's heart sang out to the boy, wanting to touch and comfort him.

In the end Roy Mustang did nothing, forcing himself to give into the desire to bond with the boy. To become one, a soul bond. He ignored it this time, and many, many times to come.

Edward Elric, the young boy on the bed, was too weak to get up and touch the voice his ears would always remember. The voice of his love.

Falling off the Edge

Colonel Roy Mustang was well aware of his soul bond with Edward Elric. Painfully aware. Every time the boy came into his office he forced himself to create unnecessary conflict and pain between them. To prevent contact, to prevent bonding. Edward had a goal, if he bonded with Roy, he would be unable to complete it. Mustang understood this, forcing Edward to keep his distance for that reason.

Major Edward Elric was well aware that he and Roy Mustang shared something deep. He wasn't sure what to call it, but it pulled on him everyday. He wanted to touch the man, to be with him, to bond. But that irritating smirk and short comments drove Edward back. And the young alchemist let them, knowing if he touched Roy, he would never let go.

The two would always dance painfully, dangerously close in the office. Their antics and violence a result of being unable to fulfill a deep, primal need. A need for the other.

Alphonse Elric, Edward's younger brother, was aware of the bond his brother shared with the Colonel. Being a only a soul trapped in a suit of armor Alphonse saw and understood things others did not. He could see the way his brother's aura and the Colonel's mixed and harmonized. He knew that bond would never fully take root until Edward had helped him get his body back. This made Alphonse infinitely guilty.

Alphonse sighed, while he heard his brother yell at the Colonel about something through the office door.

"Are you okay?" A woman beside him inquired. She was Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, a perceptive woman and the military's best marksman.

"I'm standing in Ed's way." Al muttered bitterly, knowing full well what he did to his brother.

"Way of what?" Riza asked, sitting down next to the suit of armor.

"His soul bond." Al sighed again. This isn't the first time he had had this conversation with Roy's subordinates. They were all aware to the unfulfilled bond. After Edward left, Mustang would go into depression. When Edward was about to arrive, Mustang would be alert and eager. It was painful for the office to watch, knowing that a soul bond was a rare, beautiful thing. It should be cherished and embraced, not ignored as it was.

"We're doing everything we can." Riza assured him.

"I hope so." Al muttered, depressed again.

Edward burst out the door later, his face flushed and red.

"We're leaving." He told Al, and they left. Roy put a hand on his aching heart, shutting his eyes to hold back the tears. It was getting harder and harder to say goodbye to Edward.

"Colonel?" Riza inquired. Roy gave her a pleading, pitiful look, his entire being filled with pain.

"I can't do this anymore…." He told her.

Edward leaned against his brother, panting slightly. His eyes were shut in pain and concentration. He wished he didn't have this deep connection with Mustang.

"Brother?" Alphonse asked.

"I can't see him anymore." Edward admitted through a few pants. "Not if I have to leave again."

"I'm sorry." Alphonse told him.

"Its not your fault." Edward waved his brother off. "Lets go."

That night Roy Mustang lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He was cursing every God he knew. His soul mate was out of reach and he was on the breaking point.

_Why can't someone give Alphonse back his body!?_ Roy yelled in his mind. _I want to be complete!_

**And what would you be willing to pay for his body?** A new voice asked. Roy shot up in his bed, looking for the source and finding none.

_Anything._ Roy admitted, anything to be with Edward.

**Then I will take your eye and the knowledge you would have gained.** The voice told him.

Roy opened his mouth to yell 'what' and instead screamed. Black hands came out of nowhere, grabbing right eye. Roy's body convulsed in pain as he felt his living eye be ripped from his body.

Edward's right eye stung a little and lost focus. Edward stopped, shutting his eye and rubbing it, trying to ease the discomfort.

"Brother!" Al cried, sounding upset. Edward turned around to see the armor glowing, purple transmutation arcs flying every which way off it.

"Al!" Edward gasped, horrified. The elder Elric watched the armor glow brighter and brighter until the light was too much and he had to shield his eyes. If he had been able to watch, he would have seen the armor morph into the shape of a young man. Eventually the light died down.

There stood a naked Alphonse Elric, human again.

"Brother?" Al asked, then coughed.

"Al!" Edward rushed to his brother's side, catching him.

"What's happening to me?" Al asked, continuing to cough, blood spewing into his hand as he did.

"No!" Edward's eyes were wide with fear.

**Isn't this what you wanted?** The voice of the gate mocked Edward's ears. **To see your brother whole one last time?**

"No…." Ed was horrified.

**Your soul mate paid dearly for this.** It told him. **You should be grateful.**

"No!" Edward shook with agony at the thought of Roy hurt. Alphonse continued to cough, knowing that he was dieing.

"Ed, get help…." Alphonse muttered. And so Edward carried Alphonse to the nearest hospital.

Roy Mustang put a pillow to his now bleeding eye socket in a vain attempt to stop the blood. He reached to his bedside table and grabbed the phone. He dialed the number of his best friend, Maes Hughes. After a few rings Maes picked up.

"Hello?" Maes asked from the receiver.

"…Help!" Roy gasped. There was a dial tone, signaling Hughes was on his way.

Roy and Edward arrived at the hospital around the same time. Both Alphonse and he were carted off into the emergency rooms. Edward didn't take long to find Maes in the waiting room.

"Hughes?" He asked, not knowing what he would be doing at a hospital at this hour.

"Edward?" Hughes was equally confused. "Why are you here?"

"Alphonse got his body back, but he's sick…." Edward explained, depressed.

"What!?" Hughes gasped.

"He was coughing up blood…." Edward tried to hold back tears. Hughes looked horrified.

"That sounds are bad as Roy." Hughes muttered.

"What happened to him?" Edward's head shot up, his eyes looking desperate.

"His right eye is gone." Edward stared at Hughes in disbelief.

After a long night of waiting a nurse came in and told them that Alphonse Elric would survive, but he would be weak and sickly for the rest of his life. Another nurse came in telling them Roy would be okay, just stuck without depth perception for the rest of his life.

Edward went and saw Alphonse right away. His brother looked at him with a weak smile from his hospital bed.

"They told me I can't run anymore." Al told his brother.

"Al…." Edward didn't know what to say.

"Ed, I can _feel_ again!" Al smiled, tried but happy. He was crying. "It's so wonderful!"

"But…." Edward seemed sad.

"Come here!" Al ordered. "I want to hug you."

Edward gave his brother a hug, feeling himself relax into the now-human body.

"I don't care if I can't run." Al told him. "We're done journeying now." He nuzzled his brother's neck.

"Yes." Edward agreed weakly.

"Now go and bond with the Colonel, its tearing you apart!" Al told him, glaring a little. Edward said nothing for a while.

"I won't be with you if I do…." Ed told him, knowing that he wouldn't be able to leave the man's side.

"I'd rather you be whole and happy." Al told him. With a nod, Edward left.

Hughes shook his head after hearing Mustang's story.

"You're an idiot." Hughes reminded him.

"I just want to be with Edward." Mustang complained a little.

"Alphonse is weak and sickly now. The doctors said he would be that way for the rest of his shortened days." Hughes told his friend. "Is that what you really intended to give them?"

"No…."

"Hughes, could you leave?" Edward asked, entering the room. Hughes glanced at the tired boy.

"Don't do anything stupid Edward." He advised the boy on his way out.

"Al told be to be with you." Edward explained.

"I gave up my eye for him." Roy told him. Edward nodded, his body trembling as he reached out and touched his soul mate.

Both men were lit on fire, gasping loudly as their entire beings jerked towards one another, now touching and joined.

Hitting the Ground

Alphonse Elric was released from the hospital two days later. Maes Hughes took the boy home with him and cared for him while they waited for Edward and Roy to be released. During that time the Fuhrer was called by the hospital and told of the soul bond between the two soldiers. At Headquarters there was a scurry of paperwork and slight panic. A bond meant two people really occupied one space.

Edward was promoted to Colonel. Another desk was moved into Mustang's office. Two more subordinates were assigned to the Mustang-Elric command. Someone was sent to the hospital to get Edward's measurements. Someone else got his uniform made.

Three days later Colonel Roy Mustang returned to work with an eye patch, Edward at his side. They seemed happier than they had been in a long while. They were greeted by the Fuhrer who explained to them the military's policy on soul mates. Both men nodded, understanding fully what happened to them now.

Edward called Alphonse later and told him to go back to Risembol without him. Alphonse did just that, never seeing his elder brother again. Edward stayed in Central, with the military, with Roy.

The two accepted what had been sacrificed for Alphonse. Roy's eye, the knowledge the gate should have given him, and Edward's brotherly love.

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I just got inspired and wrote this on a whim. What do you think? Should I write a sequel?


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